National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute Announced

On August 15, 2012, the White House announced the launch of a new public-private institute for manufacturing innovation in Youngstown, Ohio. The new partnership, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII), includes manufacturing firms, universities, community colleges, and nonprofit organizations from the Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia “Tech Belt.”

The consortium was selected through a competitive process led by the Department of Defense and will receive an initial $30 million in federal funding, matched by $40 million from the consortium itself.

On March 9, 2012, President Obama announced his plan to invest $1 billion to catalyze a national network of up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes around the country that would serve as regional hubs of manufacturing excellence to help make U.S. manufacturers more competitive and encourage investment in the United States. The president’s fiscal year 2013 budget includes a proposal to create the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI).

The president also announced immediate steps to launch a pilot institute to serve as a proof-of-concept for the NNMI. Five federal agencies—the departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce, the National Science Foundation, and NASA—jointly committed to invest $45 million in a pilot institute on additive manufacturing. In fiscal year 2013, NIST plans to issue a grant for applied research related to measurement needs in additive manufacturing.

Director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank and Under Secretary of Defense Frank Kendall along with other administration and local officials, announced the award at M7 Technologies in Youngstown, Ohio.